News

Japanese Box Office, August 2-3

Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Taika-hen (Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno), the first of two sequels to the 2012 live-action Rurouni Kenshin film, opened this week at #1. The sequels adapt the Kyoto arc of Nobuhiro Watsuki's original manga, with Takeru Satoh returning as Kenshin Himura and Tatsuya Fujiwara (live-action Death Note) playing the antagonist Makoto Shishio. The film also ranked #1 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 592,178,780 yen (US$5,794,712) on 428 screens over the weekend for a total of 822,655,726 yen (US$8,050,024).

Gareth Edwards' Godzilla remake film fell from #1 to #2 in its second weekend. The film, which opened in the United States in May, stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston, Richard T. Jones, Juliette Binoche, and Sally Hawkins. The film also ranked #2 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 343,349,566 yen (US$3,364,688) over the weekend on 427 screens for a new total of 1,562,308,155 yen (US$15,309,995).

Pocket Monster XY: Hakai no Mayu (Pokémon the Movie: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction) fell from #3 to #4 in its third weekend. The film guest-stars Marika Matsumoto, Japanese pro soccer player Atsuto Uchida, Yoshiko Mita, Kouichi Yamadera, Shoko Nakagawa, Rika Adachi, and comedian duo Nakagawa-ke. In the film's story, a country called the Diamond Empire falls into chaos when the legendary Pokémon Diancie loses her power to control the Holy Diamond, the empire's power source, and so she enlists the help of Ash and his friends. The film ranked #5 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 171,322,301 yen (US$1,678,890) on 357 screens for a new total of 1,478,812,993 (US$14,491,776).

Studio Ghibli's newest film When Marnie Was There (Omoide no Marnie) fell from #4 to #5 in its third weekend. The film adapts Joan G. Robinson's classic English children's novel of the same name. In his second film, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi (2010's The Secret World of Arrietty) is shifting the setting from the novel's Great Britain to a Japanese village on the shores of Hokkaido. The film ranked #4 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 182,697,050 yen (US$1,790,358) on 461 screens for a new total of 1,595,795,666 (US$15,638,159).

The double feature consisting of Gekijō-ban Kamen Rider Gaim Soccer Daisakusen! Kogane no Kajitsu Sōdatsuhai! (Kamen Rider Gaim the Movie: The Great Soccer Battle! The Golden Fruit Cup Struggle!) and Ressha Sentai TōQGer The Movie: Galaxy Line stayed at #6 in its third weekend. The films are based on the latest installments in the live-action Kamen Rider and Super Sentai television franchises, respectively. The Kamen Rider Gaim film includes participation from Japan's professional J.League soccer players and the Ressha Sentai TōQGer film follows the Safari Ressha who run the Galaxy Line, their conductor named Lady, and the Shadow Line member pursuing them. The film also ranked #6 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 66,727,859 yen (US$653,906) on 310 screens for a new total of 534,614,024 yen (US$5,239,004).

The live-action film adaptation of Kanae Hazuki's Suki-tte Ii na yo (Say, "I Love You".) stayed at #7 in its fourth weekend. The story of first love centers around Mei Tachibana (Haruna Kawaguchi), a girl who has never made friends, and Yamato Kurosawa (Sōta Fukushi), the school's most popular boy. British boy band One Direction performed the film's theme song. The film did not rank on Box Office Mojo's chart. The film ranked #8 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 51,221,921 yen (US$501,954) on 246 screens for a new total of 790,484,060 yen (US$7,746,428).

Eight Rangers 2 fell from #5 to #8 in its second weekend. Former AKB48 idol Atsuko Maeda will play the heroine in this sequel to the 2012 Super Sentai parody film starring boy band KANJANI 8 as the Eight Rangers. The film ranked #7 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 56,385,985 yen (US$552,560) on 160 screens for a new total of 299,287,278 yen (US$2,932,896).

The American live-action film All You Need is Kill (Edge of Tomorrow), based on the novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, stayed at #10 in its fifth weekend. Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt star in the film about a man who relives the same war against aliens over again each time he dies. The novel also spawned a manga by artist Takeshi Obata (Hikaru no Go, Death Note, Bakuman.) and writer Ryōsuke Takeuchi (ST&RS). The film also ranked #10 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 34,155,232 yen (US$334,708) on 415 screens over the weekend for a total of 1,475,113,135 yen (US$14,455,519).

Soreike! Anpanman: Ringo Bōya to Minna no Negai (Let's Go! Anpanman: The Apple Boy and Everyone's Wishes), the latest film starring the kids' character Anpanman, fell from #12 to #14 on Box Office Mojo's chart in its fourth weekend and earned 18,122,135 yen (US$177,590) on 152 screens for a new total of 316,338,680 yen (US$3,099,993). In the film, which is the first film in the series since creator Takashi Yanase's passing last year, Anpanman teams up with his rival Baikinman to help a guest character named Ringo Bōya (Apple Boy) find the magic seed and save the world's apples from poison. Mao Inoue and Keisuke Okada guest star as Ringo Bōya and the black witch Majoora, respectively. The film will air along with the short film Tanoshikute Asobi: Mama ni Natta Kokin-Chan.

Ju-On: Owari no Hajimari (Curse Grudge: Beginning of the End) fell from #13 to #15 on Box Office Mojo's chart in its sixth weekend and earned 12,764,056 yen (US$125,083) on 121 screens for a new total of 511,121,086 yen (US$5,008,782). The newest film in the Grudge/Ju-On series stars Nozomi Sasaki as a schoolteacher named Yui who goes to investigate her student's home after he is absent. The student (Kai Kobayashi) lives in a house hiding a horrific secret. Yui must relive the horrors that took place there 10 years ago and find the truth hiding in the home.

Travel back in time (and maybe have your gender swapped) to seven different periods of Japanese history, all from the comfort of your couch.― The history of Japanese civilization is expansive, predating the Common Era by 10,000 years (the Jomon period). There's much more ground to cover compared to what kids get in U.S. history classes in high school, which rarely cover anything before the Boston T...

Junji Ito's death-stench horror gets the deluxe treatment with a new hardcover omnibus, but the subject matter might not work for everyone.― Junji Ito is inarguably one of the masters of horror manga, utilizing both horror (physical revulsion) and terror (psychological reaction) to create gut-churning tales of the world gone mad. To a degree, he carries this out in his two-volume series Gyo from 200...

Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam O'Brien returns to the podcast after a 5-year hiatus to discuss his roles in Fate/Zero and Sailor Moon, along with the landscape for anime voice acting now and what it's like to be Gollum.― ANNCast Episode 234: Podcastoes O'Brien Get the Flash Player to see this player. Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam ...

If you went to an anime convention this summer or have used the internet lately, you may notice anime fans seem to have fallen in love with Steven Universe. Why? Because the show loves them right back.― If you've been to an anime convention in the past year, you've probably seen colorful, gem-studded cosplay like this filling the hallways. Photo credit links: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom...

If you've got questions for the director of the high-flying fantasy series The Pilot's Love Song, we've potentially got answers for you!― We've been given the opportunity to interview The Pilot's Love Song director Toshimasa Suzuki, and we need your help! NISA, who will be releasing the fantasy action drama The Pilot's Love Song on bluray September 22nd, asked for fan questions for Mr. Suzuki, whos...

Bee-Train's 2001 girls-with-guns classic returns on Blu-Ray, and holds up surprisingly well, despite some mediocre animation.― Not all older series deserve the Blu-Ray treatment. For some it is because the show just isn't as iconic as people might like to think, while for others it's because the quality was never BD worthy in the first place. Noir, fortunately, does hold up well enough that its tran...

Egypt Arc is JoJo in peak condition, as memorable and engaging an adventure as you could hope for. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is back.― When we last left our heroes, they'd just arrived on the shores of Egypt, escaping the literal jaws of defeat in order to finally save Jotaro's mother. The journey there had been a lengthy and sometimes inconsistent one, with their various adventures indeed being plen...

The creator of the hit manga, recently adapted into a popular anime series, talks about her inspirations, how she got her start, and what it's like to watch your manga become a TV show.― As you might guess from the story, the main character of the story is a high school roughneck named Ryu Yamada. Yamada meets cute, quiet, and studious Urara Shiraishi, who is his complete opposite in almost every wa...